Today's Features
MANAGEMENT

Busy Season Is Over, So It’s Time for Some Resolutions

Twelve things to do before you get busy again.

EDITOR’S NOTE: The end of every busy season means a new beginning for practitioners, which is why we thought this Q-and-A was particularly timely.

By Ed Mendlowitz
202 Questions and Answers: Managing an Accounting Practice

Question: Do you have any suggestions for the New Year?

MORE: Hold Staff Accountable If You Want Them to Listen to You | When Selling a Firm to Staffers Is Tricky | Courting a Client? Don’t Give Too Much Away for Free | Nine Tips for a Healthier Tax Season | Fifteen Strategies for First-Time Supervisors | Measure Knowledge Gaps (Then Close Them) | Should You Offer Financial Services? | Ready to Retire? Selling Your Practice Is No Strategy | 20 Things You Need for a Business Valuation
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Answer: Checklist of things to do in the New Year:

  1. Stop marking SALY next to your New Year’s resolutions. Make one or two big-time life goals resolutions that you will do.
  2. Check your personal insurance coverage. Make sure you have adequate uninsured motorist, umbrella, workers compensation at your home and life insurance.

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MARKETING & SALES

Dodge the Four Curses of a Production Orientation

BONUS: An illustration using two firms, one oriented to both production and marketing.

By August J. Aquila
Price It Right: How to Value Accounting Services

An emphasis on production (billable hours) can have negative consequences for an accounting firm. An emphasis on billable hours causes professionals to focus on internal measurements, i.e., the number of hours charged to a client, and not external measurements such as client satisfaction.

MORE: Clients Buy Solutions, Not Features | Six Ways to Expand Your Client Services Checklist | Ten Questions to Refine Your Successful Marketing Plan | Four Questions for Choosing Your Marketing Audit Strategies | Four Steps to a Successful Email Marketing Campaign | Five Reasons to Implement Change Orders | Make Your Practice Better | Eleven Marketing Strategies for Smaller Firms
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It also emphasizes the technical aspect of accounting work and keeps professionals from developing a marketing mindset. Let’s look at the four negative consequences of a production orientation.
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MARKETING & SALES

Do You Want More Publicity? Or BETTER Publicity?

letter blocks with middle section rotating to change word from "quantity" to "quality"

Determine the reason you want it in the first place.

By Bruce Marcus
Professional Services Marketing 3.0

EDITOR’S NOTE: CPA Trendlines was privileged to have a long relationship with Bruce W. Marcus, who was ahead of his time in his thinking and practice in marketing for accounting. We are publishing some of the late expert’s evergreen work, which retains wisdom for the present.

In the early days of publicity, when it was low-down press agentry and not high-blown public relations, the idea was to get your client’s name in the paper. Often. In any context. Just spell it right.

MORE: How to Write Media Releases That Capture an Editor’s Attention | Nine Ways to Choose Your PR Person | When There’s a Leak in Your Firm | Eighteen Things Advertising Can Do for Your Firm | How and Why Client Service Teams Work | Manage Knowledge as a Marketing Tool | Secret Marketing Formula: Get One Client at a Time | Marketing a Fixed Position in a Moving World | How to Build a Marketing Culture
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In the early days of marketing professional services, it became clear that merely to get your firm’s name in the paper, in any context, didn’t help much. Ego, maybe, but nothing more. A new approach to publicity had to be developed.
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ABOUT US

Bissett Bullet: Make It a ‘No Brainer’

Today’s Bissett Bullet: “The best way to talk about price is in terms of what they’re paying already.”

By Martin Bissett

When you talk to clients (or potential clients) about the price you want them to pay, minimize the impact for them. First, take your proposed annual fee and divide it by 12 to give them a monthly price. Then, look at what they pay already and only talk to them about the increase on what they already pay (if any) rather than the amount in full.

Today’s To-Do:

Take out the last proposal you wrote that was unsuccessful, take the price you quoted that client and minimize it as above. What difference could it have made to their mindset if they were presented with only the increase on their monthly fee?

See more Bissett Bullets here

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MARKETING & SALES

Twelve Ways Your Business Card Can Hurt You

Confident businesswoman handing man a business card in networking session

Does your card tell your prospect what to do next?

By Sandi Leyva
The Complete Guide to Marketing for Tax & Accounting Firms

The lowly business card: We don’t give it a second thought before we get the thing printed up, and we just do what everyone else does.

MORE: How to Use ChatGPT to Create Images | How to Leverage ChatGPT During This Crazy Tax Season | Eight Steps to Getting Started with AI: A Guide for Tax Professionals | You Don’t Have a Time Problem | Three Money Leaks and How to Plug Them | Eleven Ways to Serve Clients Even Better | Make Your Prospect Kit Stand Out | Six Ways to Beat the Competition | Grow Your Revenue with Three Marketing Strategies
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Many people, new in business, get the business cards printed before they’re really ready to, which causes many of the mistakes I list below. Experienced or new, you’re missing huge opportunities to let your business card take some of the work off your shoulders. We may take it for granted, but I feel that your business card is one of your most important pieces of marketing collateral – and the most underutilized.
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NEWS

CPA Profession Facing More Battles Across the Country

Disputes revolve around required hours, definitions and “substantial equivalency.”

By Steven Sacks
The NEW Fundamentals: Thriving in Disruption

Of all the states whose legislature has run amok this past year, the Florida legislature passed House Bill 813 – Certified Public Accountants – by both the Florida House and Senate. This bill creates a new “retired status” license category for CPAs. The legislation will now be sent to Gov. Ron DeSantis for consideration for being signed into law.

MORE: 150 Hours Revisted: The Profession Needs a Makeover | How Do You Value Your Most Important Asset? | Which is Better: A Year of Education or A Year of Experience? | Sell Service, Not Hours | Private Equity vs. the CPA Firm Partnership | CAS or CAAS? Getting Clarity | Fine-Tuning the Subscription Fee Model | When Cyber-Crime Hits Close to Home | How to Build a Winning Proposal | Six Ways to Fix Your Firm Agreement
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According to the Florida Institute of CPAs CEO, the thinking behind this is to “… uphold retired CPAs’ profound sense of pride and accomplishment and preserve their professional identity.” However, they cannot reflect to the public that they have an active license because many believe the public thinks that if you have “CPA” after your name, you have an active license. If an individual wants to return to public practice, they can complete 80 hours of CPE every two years as part of renewing their license.

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CHARTS & GRAPHS

Tax Refund Numbers Down, Amounts Up

data table

Tax pros handled 54% of e-filings.

By Beth Bellor
CPA Trendlines Research

More than 100,000 individual income tax returns have flowed in and out of the Internal Revenue Service, and for the most part, we’re slightly ahead of the 2023 season.

MORE: Tax Pros Own 53% of E-filings | Tax Stats Still Playing Catchup | Tax Pros Take the Edge in E-Filings | Tax Pros Gain Ground, and DIYers Maintain Lead | Tax Pros Handle 46.4% of E-filing | Tax Refunds, Tax Pro Market Share Trending Up | Refunds Up as Tax Pros Tackle 41.5% of E-filings | Tax Pros Handle 37.7% of E-filings | Tax Pros File 33% of Early Returns
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With 10 days before deadline – as of April 5, the latest data available – the IRS received 101.9 million returns, up 0.5 percent from the same period the previous tax season. It processed 100.1 million returns, down 0.3 percent.
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PRO Member Exclusive

New Phase-Change Concrete Melts Snow and Ice Without Salt or Shovels

New self-heating concrete mixes could eliminate the need for snowplows, salt trucks and shovels.

By Rick Richardson
Technology This Week

Researchers have devised a self-heating substance that can melt snow and ice for up to 10 hours without the need for shovels or salt by incorporating a phase-change compound into concrete. The new substance may lessen the requirement for salting and plowing while helping maintain road surface integrity.

MORE: AI Generates Revolutionary New Battery Design | ChatGPT Is Getting Humanlike Memory | One State Is Now America’s Clean Energy Paradise | Did Ancient Romans Find a Solution for Climate Change? | Telehealth Advances with AI-Powered Clinics | FCC Approves Superfast Wi-Fi Tethering | Major Websites Blocking Content from AI Crawlers | Printer Ink: Not Just Expensive, but a Blatant Scam? | Generative AI Coming to Microsoft 365 | Electronic Skin That Can Sense Touch Will Transform Robotics
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The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) reports that over 70 percent of roadways are in areas with snowfall. Accumulation of snow and ice decreases vehicle mobility and road friction, slowing down traffic and raising the possibility of collisions.
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